Forecast

Peddling the Adirondacks

Turn historic corridor into tourist destination

By Dick Beamish, Commentary
| on June 21, 2014

My wife and I recently returned from a biking vacation in the southwest corner of Virginia with an acute case of trail envy. Our envy is focused on the Virginia Creeper Trail, which follows an old railroad bed through some lovely landscapes in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

But how, you might ask, could we envy anyone else's trails? Don't we live in a region blessed with an incomparable network of beautiful, back-country routes for hiking, paddling, skiing, climbing, snowshoeing?

True enough, but there's one kind of recreational delight still lacking in the Adirondack Park — a missing link that could easily be established on the old rail corridor that runs 90 miles from Lake Placid to Old Forge. Consider the Virginia Creeper Trail, an easy, scenic, compactly surfaced bikeway on a railroad bed that connects Abingdon with White Top. This popular tourist destination is 34 miles long, the same length as the section of corridor connecting the northern Adirondack communities of Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake.

The Virginia Creeper Trail attracts more than 100,000 visits each year. Most are bicycle riders. They come in all ages, from young families to retirees. They buy food, clothing and outdoor gear, and they patronize restaurants and lodging places, museums, art galleries and outfitters.

The Virginia Creeper Trail contributes significantly to the economic life of Abingdon and it has been the lifeline for the tiny village of Damascus, halfway along the trail. Once a center for lumbering and mining, Damascus had entered its death throes before the rail corridor was converted into a bikeway. Now this village of 950 residents has four bike shops, six restaurants, dozens of rental cottages and bed-and-breakfasts, and an annual Trail Day celebration that attracts thousands of visitors.

Based on the success of this and many other rail trails around the country, the Adirondack Park is clearly missing the boat.

This situation is doubly puzzling because Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who could make this recreational trail a reality, has otherwise proved himself a champion of tourist development in the Adirondacks.

Many local businesses and local governments have been urging the governor to review the historic railroad corridor to determine its best use. Yet so far the call has gone unanswered.

Regular rail service on the corridor was discontinued decades ago. For the past 15 years, a tourist train has been operating sporadically, with negligible economic impact, along the nine-mile stretch between Lake Placid and Saranac Lake.

The next 75 miles of the corridor have gone virtually unused, the old tracks rusting and the ties rotting.

This extraordinary public resource, which has been just sitting there going to waste for decades, cries out for adaptive reuse.

The cost of removing the tracks and preparing the surface for bicycling could be largely offset by selling the rails for salvage.

By converting this corridor to a world-class recreation trail, Cuomo and the state's transportation and environmental agencies could turn bicycling into a major outdoor activity in the Adirondacks.

Without the impediment of the old tracks, the corridor would offer greatly improved snowmobiling, with the attendant economic benefits, between December and March.

This safe, scenic, traffic-free trail would also be a joy for walkers and joggers, a place where people of all shapes, sizes and physical abilities could enjoy healthy exercise in a superb natural setting.

The governor has the right idea about strengthening the tourist industry in the Adirondacks by capitalizing on the region's special attributes.